Friday, July 10, 2009

Experimental/ independent Japanese animation comes to Toronto with Seconds Under the Sun

by Chris MaGee

Don't want to get into a long and involved story about how it seems the stars have been aligning lately to make The Shinsedai Cinema Festival possible, but a couple weeks ago I got an email from a woman here in Toronto who is putting together an event in the days leading up to Shinsedai that involves something near and dear to my heart: experimental Japanese animators. Seconds Under the Sun, is being presented by Film Fort and hosted by the great book and design store/ gallery Function 13 in the heart of Toronto's coolest neighbourhood (in my humble opinion), Kensington Market.

Curator Naomi Hocura has brought together the work of 14 established and up and coming Japanese animators whose work goes well beyond the realms of popular anime. Some of the animators included in the line-up are Kihachiro Kawamoto, the creator of the stop-motion puppet film "Book of the Dead", Kei Oyama, and Daisuke Ichiba.

Here's where the planets aligning part comes in. Seconds Under the Sun is also featuring work by artist Akino Kondoh (above) and indie animator Naoyuki Tsuji... both of whom have additional films in the Shinsedai Cinema Festival line-up a few days later! Coincidence? Maybe. Some kind of divine intervention voodoo? Most probably.

Seconds Under the Sun is taking place on August 18th at 8:30 PM at the Function 13 Gallery (156 Augusta Ave). If you want to get a double shot of great experimental animators in Toronto this summer then check out Function 13's website.